Free The Redeemed by Jonas Saul Page A

know.”
     
    “Probably a good night for us to come,” Sarah said.
     
    “Sarah?” Vicky stepped closer. “I have to ask. What possessed you to grab Miles’ gun? That was either the bravest thing I have ever seen, or the stupidest.”
     
    “Consider it the stupidest then,” Sarah said as she made her way around to the passenger side of the rental. “We’ll follow you.”
     
    She opened the door and dropped into the seat, the stress of the evening wearing her down. Parkman said a few more words to Vicky and got in the car. He put the keys in the ignition and stopped.
     
    “Sarah, why did you grab the gun?”
     
    “He was going to shoot. Didn’t want it touching me anymore. Also, I thought I detected a little orange around the barrel. There was a possibility it was fake.”
     
    “All guns are real and loaded when they’re aimed at you. That’s the only rule to live by, literally, the only way to stay alive.”
     
    “I know,” Sarah said. “Look, Vicky’s pulling out. Let’s go.”
     
    Parkman started the car and pulled out to follow Vicky.
     
    “You handled it expertly,” Parkman said. “Any chance there’s more you’re not telling me? Like how you knew Miles’ name.”
     
    “I just knew.”
     
    “What does that mean?”
     
    She turned to him. “It’s Vivian. She talks to me. In my head.”
     
    “What?” He glanced at her, then back at the road. “How?”
     
    “She drops words into my consciousness. The hand-written messages tell the future. But in the moment, when I need something new, Vivian speaks to me in the here and now. The words form in my mind and I can tell they’re not my own.”
     
    “How long has she been doing this?”
     
    “Since I took that bullet in the head in Toronto.” Sarah adjusted her broken foot and rested her arm on the back of the seat. “Vivian has always had control of my body. That’s how the automatic writing works. She takes over, channeling through me to write messages. Back in Kelowna, she took over my drugged body and fought back when I couldn’t. For a time, she actually possessed me.”
     
    “I remember you telling me about that.”
     
    “But there’s a problem with it.”
     
    “What’s that?” Parkman asked as he slowed the car. Vicky had pulled off Sunset Boulevard and was parking on a side road.
     
    “It feels like there’s two people inside my head now. It’s weird. Like sometimes I’m the guest.”
     
    “And?” Parkman stopped the car and cut the lights. He turned to face her.
     
    “I can feel Vivian’s thoughts. Even see some of her memories. It worries me.”
     
    “How?”
     
    “Just recently I saw an image of my parents as if it was a memory. But it couldn’t have been my memory as Mom and Dad were too young.”
     
    “If that’s the only side effect, what does it matter? You rattled Miles and disarmed him because of what Vivian said. That may have saved your life.”
     
    “Vivian told me the kind of gun it was and how to disarm it. Mentally, she made it feel like I always knew the M1911 model.”
     
    “There you go. Saving your life tonight far outweighs a few memories of Vivian’s past.”
     
    “Normally I would agree. But Vivian was raped and murdered at a young age. When those memories surface, what then? How am I supposed to cope with that kind of memory when it isn’t even mine? Parkman, I can handle a lot, but that would ruin me. I can’t imagine walking around with a memory of that kind of violation. She died. That would come along with it. Because I love her so much and appreciate our understanding and what she does to help people, I just couldn’t cope with it.”
     
    Vicky was walking toward their car.
     
    “Deal with it when the time comes,” Parkman said.
     
    “I only hope I can.”
     

Chapter 13

    Mike dragged the heavy snake cage down the wide stairs until he reached the dolly. After strapping the cage to the dolly, he pushed it to the makeshift loading dock at the back